100% in Fun, If Not in Score

My favourite video games are the Lego series of video games, as I'm the type of gamer who loves smashing stuff, collecting stuff, and playing through an action/adventure. I also love cute characters. Over the past few weeks I played Lego Marvel Superheroes, which was a lot of fun and reminded me that I really enjoy superheroes. I never read comics as a kid, but I have seen a lot of superhero movies and this game introduced me to a lot of characters I had never heard of before. So if they ever do make the Deadpool movie, I have a better idea of who he is now. Playing through these Marvel characters also encouraged me to get caught up with the X-Men movies, which were pretty good.

My only complaint with Lego Marvel Superheroes, was the controls for flying characters (and some of the driving controls, also). In non-timed events I could fly well enough to do what needed to be done, but there were a number of flying races that I just could not complete. The last day I played this game, I spent over an hour racing Silver Surfer, re-trying over and over, and I showed absolutely no signs of improvement. As I didn't want to spend countless hours attempting (and failing) the remaining flying races (there were seven races left to complete) I decided to call it a day on the game. I had a lot of fun with the 99.2% of the game I did complete, and didn't want to ruin my experience with hours of feeling frustrated just to get the other 0.08%.

So I didn't quite get 100%, but I did pretty damn good and had a fun filled time along the way.

Character tokens: 114/115. Missing: Silver Surfer (unlocked after beating him in a flying race and completing two additional missions at his command)

Gold Bricks: 241/250. Missing: Nine bricks.

• Two of the bricks are earned with Silver Surfer (beating him in a flying race and completing a mission for him)
• Six of the bricks are earned by completing timed flying races throughout New York:
• Race on top of X Mansion
• Race on top of a gas station
• Race at the Dockyards
• Race in the sky above the water by the Dockyards
• Race between and around two buildings
• Race just off the helicarrier
• One brick earned from a long and tedious remote control car timed race (I spent way too long trying to get this one. I had real difficulty with the driving controls in some places.) 

This was my first time playing a Lego game on the Xbox 360, so I also unlocked most of the Xbox achievements too (44/45). The missing achievement was get 100% in the game.

Previous Lego Video Game Posts
On A Lego Kick
Lego Batman 100%
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 100%
Lego Indiana Jones 100% and Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 100%
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes 100%
Lego Pirates of the Caribbean 100% and Lego Lord of the Rings 100%
Lego Video Gaming 

Reading Even More of ALL the Books

Last year I participated in the Goodreads reading challenge, setting a goal of 25 books. I ended up reading 31 books and decided to take the challenge again this year. I kept the goal the same (25 books) as I didn't want to pressure myself to do something fun. Early in the year it was clear I had to up the goal to 30, as I was on a steady course to surpass 25 books again. And I didn't stop at 30. As of today I have read 41 books this year! Holy jumping!! In the past two years I've read 72 books, and that makes me feel really happy. I also read some really great books, and that makes me feel even happier!

To check out the 41 books I read in 2014, click on over to Goodreads to check out my list. 

The following is the Top 6 books/series I read this year, in no particular order.

The Dark Tower by Stephen King
I read the first four in this eight book series this year and I am hooked. I love Roland and his ka-tet and I can often be heard quoting the sayings of the Gunslinger around the house. I absolutely love it, and am happy there are still four more books for me to read.



The Parker Novels by Richard Stark
I realized last year that I like the genre Hardboiled. I started with Elmore Leonard and then our friend James told us about the Parker novels. He was so excited about them that I had to look them up. This year I read the first two in the series, and then books 19 and 20 (there are 24 novels in total). I am hooked. They are fun and fast.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman
I have seen the movie about a zillion times and decided to pick up the book. I read it so fast, even though I knew what was coming. I loved it as much as I love the movie. Which is a lot.





The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
I love J.K. Rowling and she has never given me a reason not to. Each book is better than the last, and this latest mystery under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym was so much fun to read. Cormoran Strike is a well written dude that I love reading about.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I never picked up this book before this year and somehow avoided all spoilers on what it was about. When I got to the finish it blew my mind, hitting every note I love in good drama. I loved it and totally get why people are still talking about it.




The Circle by Dave Eggers
This was a recommendation from my friend Tasha (who famously recommended to me one of favourite series: The Dresden Files). This is one of the last books I read in 2014 and I couldn't put it down. It was so fast paced and fun to read. It was a near-future dystopia where privacy was viewed as a bad thing and there were many horrifying ideas on how to make everything "open". It was really scary and really fun to read.

Reading ALL the Books

I joined Goodreads in January, set myself a reading challenge, and got excited about reading. My initial goal was to read 25 books, and I bested it by 6. I read thirty-one books! And many of them were over 400 pages long! I really surprised myself and certainly read a lot more than I expected to.

So in no particular order, here are the highlights of what I read in 2013. You can see my complete list here, as well as at the end of this post.

Harry Potter Re-Read (5 books)
Philosophers Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix (first five books) by J.K. Rowling

I love J.K. Rowling, so I started my first Harry Potter re-read. I have both the books and the audio books, so I read them before I went to bed and also took them on walks with me. Listening to Harry Potter while walking is like walking with a warm hug.



The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
I loved this book and I love J.K. Rowling. Her writing completely works for me. Can't wait for the next one.

Lord of the Rings (3 books)
The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers, The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien

I tried to read this 10 years ago and stopped around page 50. I'm so glad I tried again, as I got completely obsessed with it. The Lord of the Rings is actually pretty great! I have re-watched all the movies since reading it and love to discuss the differences between the book and the film versions.


 
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My first walk into Middle Earth was with the Hobbit. I liked the movie so I thought I should try the book. This book definitely made me appreciate Bilbo Baggins. He is a pretty neat dude.



 
An Astronaut's Guide To Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield
I have a really strong appreciation for people who are passionate about what they do. Chris Hadfield is one of those people and what he does is actually really amazing and inspiring. More than just an astronaut, Chris Hadfield is a real life teacher and I have definitely learned from him and his book. A must read.

 Wild by Cheryl Strayed
A memoir of a woman who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail after the loss of her mother. This book really hit me in the feels and I highly recommend it.




Freaky Deaky by Elmore Leonard
I hadn't read any Elmore Leonard before he passed earlier this year, but I am happy to say I've now read Freaky Deaky. It was a fun one to start on. It was fast paced, the main character was a 'one-step-ahead of the bad guy' bad ass, and it was a satisfying tale where the bad guys got theirs in the end. Highly recommended.

The Feeling Good Handbook by David D. Burns, M.D.
This is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy self help book and I couldn't recommend it more. The book is filled with exercises to work through as you read about how your thoughts effect how you feel. I will probably read this book over and over throughout my life.





And the Rest:

Raylan by Elmore Leonard                        How to Archer by Sterling Archer
Nueromancer by William Gibson              Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn                         The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt
The Tempest by William Shakespeare    

Joyland and The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
Cold Days, Side Jobs, The Furies of Calderon, and Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher
Naked Heat, Heat Rises, Frozen Heat, and Deadly Heat by Richard Castle

According to my Goodreads stats I read over 12,000 pages this year. Right on!

Fancy Dinner and a Movie

Any celebration with my family or friends always involves food. The food ranges from big home cooked dinners, to vast quantities of take out, to giant piles of hors d'oeuvres to nibble on throughout the event. For us, there really is nothing better than sharing food with the people we love.

John and I have been having movie date nights recently, most of which have been spent watching the Lord of the Rings films. I have been reading the books, so it's been a lot of fun to watch the movies together and discuss all the ins and outs of putting such an epic tale to screen. For our most recent date night, we continued our Tolkien obsession and had a fancy dinner to start the date off right.

We picked up a smoked turkey leg, a Brie, and Ciabatta baguette for a fancy nibbly dinner.

I baked a brown sugar coated Brie for about 10 minutes in a 350°F oven. John made an oil and spice mixture for the bread, and toasted slices of it while the Brie cooked. We both cut pieces off the turkey leg and sampled as we did so. Then we grouped the food festively on a serving tray and were really excited to get eating.

 

We even made a salad to go with it, so we weren't just eating meat, cheese, and bread.

We paired our fancy dinner with The Hobbit: Extended Edition. It was hard to focus on the movie at first, as my mind was completely taken over by the Brie. Once we finished most of the food, we were able to pay more attention to the movie.

The movie was fantastic. We've seen the theatrical release about a thousand times already, and this version was even better. Most of the extended scenes added welcome back story, or more depth to the characters. The entire Rivendell sequence was greatly enhanced by the extra scenes, some of which were really important to the plot. The LOTR extended editions are miles above the original theatrical releases, and I'm glad to see The Hobbit is too.

Happier

At the start of 2013, a few friends posted about happiness jars. Happy moments are collected throughout the year in a jar and at the end of the year, it is opened up and you remember all the nice things that happened.

I thought it was a pretty good idea so I put a jar by my desk and started filling it with happy little notes.

I was pretty good about adding to the jar until May, when my friend Jen let me know about an even better idea for collecting happy moments: an App called Happier (now available on the web too). Happier is a similar concept to the happy jar, except it also involves a social network. Not only are you thinking about and collecting your own happy moments, but you get to look through other people's happy moments too. This is one of the best features of Happier, as it often makes me happier to read about the day to day things that make others smile. Things like "I got 8 hours of sleep!" or "The sun was out all day" are just really nice to read about.

The app has expanded a lot since I joined in May, and each new version is better than the last. In the current version when you post three happy moments in a day, you're rewarded with an image that says "You're Awesome". There is also confetti that rains down on the screen after you post a happy moment, which is both fun and encouraging. They even celebrate user milestones, as I recently reached my 200th moment and was rewarded with this appearing on my screen:

On the social side, you can "smile" at moments, comment on moments, share them, follow other people's moments, and search for happy moments by category. For example: "eating awesome food" and "animals" are both categories to browse. Scrolling through these categories, you'll find hundreds of posts of people just loving on their pets or being overjoyed by the food they've just eaten. It's really a lot of fun.

If you want to check out the happy moments I've posted, you can find them by clicking here.

Thinking about the little things and being part of the Happier community has been a very positive addition to my year. If I'm having a bad day, Happier is a great place to go to be reminded of all the little things that make life fun. And refreshingly, for a social network, it is a very positive space to be. Most of the comments I get on my moments are variations of "Me too!" or "I love that!" or "I should do that too!" Obviously not everyone is made happy by the same things, but if you see something that doesn't appeal to you, you can just scroll past it and find twenty other moments that will make you smile.

Hundreds of little things made me happier in 2013, and I'm looking forward to going over my Happier posts and reading through my happiness jar so I can remember all the moments that made me smile.

Coldwater Steampunk Festival - Other Happenings

We attended the Coldwater Steampunk Festival earlier this summer and I've previously posted about the amazing costumes and the dazzling art. For the final round up of the event, here are some odds and ends of the fun we had that day.

One of the highlights of the festival was a knight fight in the street. We missed their first fight that was scheduled and in the park, but later in the day they took to the street for another battle. It was like a game of road hockey where they had to move off to the side when a car came. Hilarious! The knights were fun to watch and put on a good show for the crowd.

Knight street fighter

Real swords!

Knight fight!

Attack!

Knight fist bump - love it!

Happy knight

There was also a Birds of Prey show in the afternoon. There was lots of information to take in, but the bird handler didn't have a microphone so it was hard to hear all the amazing stuff barn owls do.

Another highlight was a steam powered corn roaster. They were selling the roasted corn for only fifty cents! Super deal and super delicious.

Our last stop of the day was the Coldwater Legion for some french fries and a few rounds of the meat draw (buy a ticket, maybe win a roast). It was a lot of fun and everyone at the Coldwater Legion was super nice and welcoming.

I'm already looking forward to next year! I wonder if I will put a costume together?

Pie vs. Pie

I made my first pumpkin pie over the weekend. I also made my second. Here are two things I wish I didn't know about making pumpkin pie:

                   (1) it is stupidly easy. By the time the oven heats up, the pie is ready to go in. 

                   (2) 1 can of pumpkin puree makes two pies

Now that I know these things, John thinks I should make a pumpkin pie every week.

In my pumpkin pie making adventure, I noticed that recipes either called for sweetened condensed milk or evaporated milk. I had enough puree to make two pies, so I thought I would try both methods to see which I liked better. Here are my results (note: this was in no way a scientific study. It was mostly just an excuse to eat/make pie.)


Pumpkin Pie (recipe slightly adapted from Eagle Brand)

Ingredients:
1 + 3/4 cups pumpkin puree
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt
1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Whisk ingredients (except pie crust) in bowl until smooth. Pour into pie crust. Bake in 425°F oven for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350°F and continue baking for 35-40 minutes.

Before baking

After Baking

Mmmmm....Pie

Pumpkin Pie (recipe slightly adapted from E.D. Smith)

Ingredients:
1 + 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup evaporated milk
2 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 9 inch unbaked deep dish pie crust

Beat eggs lightly in medium bowl. Add pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt; stir until combined. Blend in milk. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425°F for 15 min. Lower oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking 30-35 minutes.

Before Baking

After Baking

Pie!

In this unscientific, not double blind, test study, I decided that they both tasted the same, looked the same, and cooked pretty much the same. I have a 'really like pumpkin pie spice' bias, so the recipe didn't really matter to me. The end result was they both tasted like pumpkin pie and that was what I was going for. I do prefer the sweetened condensed milk version, but only because it has less ingredients and I'm more likely to have sweetened condensed milk on hand. Also when I made the evaporated milk version, the filling dripped over the side of the pie crust. That was when I noticed that the recipe called for a deep dish pie crust. Whoops.

Have you made a pumpkin pie? Any preference on recipe?

Coldwater Steampunk Festival - Costumes

In August we attended the third annual Coldwater Steampunk Festival. We had never been before (or even heard about it) but I have an appreciation of the Steampunk look, and the fact that it was being held in Coldwater, Ontario really caught our attention. Coldwater? Really? Coldwater is a small town near us that has a population of about 1700, and we weren't sure how many people there would even know what Steampunk was. Our main motivation to attend was curiosity, and we ended up having a fantastic time. The atmosphere of the small town, with some historical looking buildings and old timey trucks lining the main street, really added to the Steampunkiness of the event.  It was really well done.

Like any street festival there were vendors of art, crafts, and food. There were buskers of music and other talents, even an acorbatic pole dancer put on a show. There were way more people dressed up then I expected, and a costume contest was held to recognize the amazing work participants did putting them together. Someone was even carrying an elaborate bubble gun that was very Steampunky.

The following is a round up of some of the costumes at the festival. I took a lot of photos that day so I will post more over the next few weeks.

Children's Costume Contest

Women's Costume Contest

Men's Costume Contest

Judges for the costume contest

She told us she made her dress. What an amazing job! Looks awesome!

Love this group! The bubble gun was awesome.

 

Remembering to Rest

I'm over two weeks into my 28 day reboot and feeling like I'm making good progress.

My first week I walked 37,321 steps.

My second week I walked 55,839 steps (averaging about 8000 steps per day - woot!).

I'm training my body to walk daily, but I'm also listening to it when it needs a break. And this weekend, I needed a rest.

At the tail end of my 55,000+ steps Saturday night, I had a relaxing bath to calm my muscles and was just completely exhausted when I got out. I knew there would be no walking on Sunday for me. And it turned out, no Monday walking either. Taking it easy was the only thing on the schedule and that was fine by me. 

I had a wonderful time on my rest days. Sunday we went to an end of summer BBQ with friends, where we sampled 3 out of 4 of the Lays 'Do Us a Flavour' contest chips. The flavours in Canada are: Grilled Cheese and Ketchup (pretty good), Maple Moose (tasted like a combo of sweet and burnt - we threw them out), Creamy Garlic Caesar (they tasted great; they were pretty much just sour cream and onion, with maybe a hint of crouton), and Perogy Platter (we didn't try these, but they sound delicious). Fun times.

Monday I rested by playing Torchlight. All day. I'm always amazed at my capacity to game, but when I like something, I tend to like it a lot. It was super fun and I'm level 67 now or something ridiculous.

I'm feeling well rested and happy to get back moving today. It has been raining on and off, but hopefully I'll find a chunk of time where I don't get too wet.

Happy September friends!

Family Fun Trip

A few months ago Target opened some stores in Canada. The closest Target to us is in Orillia and it opened at the end of March. I had never been to a Target before, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I proposed a road trip with Mom and Grandma, and on a rainy day in April we made our way to the big city of Orillia, Ontario!

The three of us hadn't been to the Orillia Square Mall in probably 10 years. I worked in Orillia from 2000-2003, and only rarely did I go over there at lunchtime. They've made some renovations to the mall recently and we walked around before exploring Target.

First stop - lunch. The Food court was pretty limited but they had a Burger King so I treated Mom and Grandma to burgers. Surprise of the day, we were there on a Wednesday (also known as Whopper Day), so our meals were cheap and delicious. I love when I offer to buy lunch and get an unexpected deal. Everyone wins! We didn't know it at the time, but eating at Burger King was the highlight of our day.

Orillia, ON Target

Maple Leaf, Heart, Target Logo

Apparently the big draw for Canadians when cross border shopping at American Target is the amaze-a-deals. Unfortunately, these deals never made it to Canada. I'm not really a shopper in general, so it takes a lot to get me to part with my money, and Target did absolutely nothing for me. Mom and Grandma felt the same - they were both unimpressed with the store. Basically Target just has the same stuff you can get at Real Canadian Superstore or Walmart but at a slightly higher price. I can say some positive things about it: (1) it had a very clean bathroom and (2) there was a Starbucks right inside the store.

The point of heading to Orillia that day was to spend some fun social time with Mom and Grandma and I got to do just that. They are both backseat drivers but I didn't have to pull over to kick anyone out of the car, so that was good. Plus we learned that every Wednesday is Whopper Day, and I've been to my local BK six times since then to enjoy this tasty treat.

Have been to a Target Canada? What did you think?

Video Game Post!

We borrowed our friend's XBOX 360 so John could try out a few games, namely Skyrim. I am usually a Wii gamer, but watching John play Skyrim has been fun, though I'm not sure it's for me (even though he says you get to tame and ride a dragon...I could be into that). So far I've only played Rayman Origins on the XBOX, which turns out is also a Wii title. What can I say, I know what I like.

If you've been following the blog for a while, you know my favourite video games are Lego centered. Along with Lego Batman 1 and 2, Lego Harry Potter 1 and 2, and Lego Indiana Jones, I have now completed a few more.

I finally finished Lego Pirates late last year. I found it to be one of the weaker Lego games, so I finished it long after I started it. I inherently love it because it's Lego but it didn't hold my interest like the other games. Not sure if I will replay it, but happy I was able to finish it.

Also completed Lego Lord of the Rings earlier this year. It was a great game with lots of exploring and I love LOTR so there were many familiar faces. My only complaint was there was a lot of crying by Lego characters. Lord of the Rings is pretty dark, so the game was pretty dark too. Even when people are being killed with broom, banana, or chicken arrows, it's still pretty sad. Lots of Lego tears in this one.

I have yet to complete Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, but I think I will be doing that incrementally over my whole life. I still have to find most of the blue canisters (essentially replay all the levels, but timed) as well as complete most of the Super Story missions (essentially replay all the levels, but timed). So I won't be posting about it's completion any time soon.